In a study published March of 2016, researchers gave CBD to mice and discovered that their Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) was increased.
What is NREM sleep? NREM sleep is dreamless sleep. During NREM, the brain waves on the electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings are typically slow and of high voltage, the breathing and heart rate is slow and regular, the blood pressure is low, and the sleeper is relatively still. NREM sleep is divided into 4 stages of increasing depth leading to Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Most of our sleep (80%) is done in NREM.
What is the function of NREM? The function of NREM is somatic, vegetative maintenance. In other words, NREM restores the body. For instance, growth hormones peak during delta sleep. Delta sleep is the deepest NREM sleep. Another piece of evidence that supports the vegetative restorative function of NREM sleep is when there is high pre-sleep metabolic rates they are associated with higher levels of delta sleep. So if you’re working on getting your metabolism up you are going to need more delta sleep.
Insomnia: There are 2 types of insomnia; onset insomnia (trouble falling asleep) or maintenance insomnia (waking up during the night and not being able to return to sleep). NREM stage 1 occurs after you have decided to sleep and your eyes are closed. During this stage—which typically lasts between 1 and 10 minutes—you are lightly asleep, and you can quickly return to being fully awake. People who suffer from onset insomnia have a much harder time getting to this stage, making the other stages harder to obtain and not as long lasting. Maintenance insomnia is usually attributed to anxiety and depression and is found more commonly in women and because a patient is waking only after a short period of sleep, they are usually more tired during the day, causing irritability.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a natural way of helping to go to sleep and stay asleep, prolonging NREM, which helps to restore the body.
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